Liverpool FC have released detailed images of their proposed new £100million Main Stand as they prepare to submit a planning application for the redevelopment of Anfield.

With deals to purchase the remaining nearby properties close to being completed, the club are set to press on with their ambitious expansion plans.

Liverpool will apply to the city council for planning permission this summer to rebuild both the Main Stand and the Anfield Road Stand but phase one of the building work will involve just the Main Stand.

“With the club stepping forward on the pitch this season it’s fitting and great that we’re able to feel that we’re making progress on the stadium.

“We’ve said all the way along that we’ll have to have certainty and we’re careering towards certainty on (acquiring) the properties.

“We are going into a consultation process on planning and then the next level of certainty for us, post the properties, is the planning stage. We can’t just presume that we’ll get planning but again we’d like to be optimistic about that.

“It would be fantastic for the football club and the fans if we can continue our progress on the pitch and with the stadium because hand in hand they support each other.

“We set out a very clear set of objectives and time scales to achieve what we want to achieve on the stadium and it’s very much on track.

“It’s very pleasing that, although for the fans it feels like it’s been a 10-year wait, under this ownership we’ve been at this in earnest for two to two and a half years and we’ve made progress in keeping with the plan we set.

“We have fantastic support and there is massive demand for tickets. The style of football also means people are clamouring to get through the doors.

"This is phase one and if that works then we will step forward again.”

Watch: LFC reporter James Pearce on the Reds' new renovation plans

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The plans for the new Main Stand have been drawn up by London-based architects KSS and the club are currently in talks with a number of potential construction partners.

The £100million cost will be partly financed by a lucrative naming rights deal for the stand with a major sponsor. However, the stadium's name won't change.

The new stand will have three tiers with the middle section dedicated to around 36 corporate hospitality boxes.

There will be little impact on the stadium's capacity during construction with much of the work going on above and behind the current structure.

A decision has been taken to relocate the Hillsborough Memorial to a specially designed cloister at the back of the new Main Stand following discussions with the families of the 96. The iconic Shankly Gates will also be moved.

The red brick work on the exterior has been designed to ensure the new stand fits in with the other three sides of Anfield. The interior will have a series of escalators to get fans up to the top tier.

The Main Stand will open on to a wide public concourse which will link the stadium into the wider Anfield area.

With some 28,000 supporters currently on the season ticket waiting list, Liverpool should have few problems filling a bigger stadium.

Ayre says the increase in revenue from the extra seats will help the club to compete financially with rivals such as Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.

And he has vowed that the £100million outlay will have no detrimental impact on the cash available to manager Brendan Rodgers to strengthen his playing squad.

“We certainly won't be selling a player to pay for it,” Ayre added.

“We actually haven’t decided yet which way we’ll fund it. We’re confident we can but we have a range of options and we’re still considering them.

“I think it’s been very well demonstrated by the management and ownership of the club that we’ll do things that are in the best long term interests of the club.

“It won't affect investment in the team. If anything, we’re doing it to support investment in the team.

“The ownership has proved that it has reinvested every penny back into the football club and into the team and the plan is to continue in that vein.

“We’ve found the best solution to answer the problem and at the same time found a solution that has a return on the investment as quickly as possible.

“There’s no point in investing hundreds of millions of pounds of the club’s money if it just burdens you with debt that prevents you from being able to invest. That wouldn’t be helping you; it’d actually be hindering you.

“That’s why £600m/£700m stadiums don’t work because you’re just setting yourself back rather than forward.”

The stadium saga has dogged Liverpool for more than a decade with a succession of false dawns and broken promises.

Owners Fenway Sports Group inherited the problem when they completed their takeover in October 2010.

They spent two years weighing up their options and carrying out feasibility studies before deciding to redevelop Anfield rather than build a new stadium in Stanley Park.

The Americans did likewise in the States with the iconic Fenway Park – the home of their baseball side the Boston Red Sox.

Ayre, who joined Liverpool initially as commercial director in 2007, added: “I definitely had some concerns over the past seven years about whether we would ever get there.

“I remember four or five years ago being at the football club and someone telling me it was not possible to extend Anfield. Here we are getting closer and closer to that becoming a reality.

“I think anyone who looks at the great work this ownership group have done since taking over, everything is about things being properly thought through and properly considered despite any pressure that might come.

“We’ll always take our time to find the right solution and I’ve never been in doubt that we’d find a solution under this group and I think staying at Anfield and finding such a great solution is fantastic for everyone.

“I certainly haven’t met any Liverpool fans who don’t think staying at Anfield is a good idea.”

Public consultation planned for this week

Public consultation and exhibitions on the Anfield stadium plans are scheduled for this week.

Liverpool FC is asking for residents, fans and local businesses to give their views as part of its planning application which the club expects to submit in the summer.

A drop-in public exhibition for local residents and businesses is taking place on Thursday from noon until 8pm at Anfield.

The plans will also be on show in the Anfield Family Park from 10am before this Sunday's game against Chelsea.

Comments can be submitted at the public exhibition or alternatively the club has set up a number of ways to submit comments via the LFC website at: http://www.liverpoolfc.com/stadium

Comments are invited until the close of the consultation period at 5pm on Friday, May 2.